Anime' - Whatcha Watchin? (Is it good?)

[unbongwah]

I typically like magical girl stuff but Madoka Magica leaves me cold. The background animation is interesting, but the character animation strikes me as quite poor. Not in the sense that I dislike the art style, more in the sense that the movements are stiff and unconvincing to me.

Isn't SHAFT - and director Shinbo in particular - somewhat infamous for, ummm, not-so-great animation due to budget constraints or rushed production schedules or whatever?

It's an art style with a bad case of sameface, but it's wildly superior to, say, Dragon Crisis's art style. It would look pretty interesting if the show could afford to move its characters properly. Dragon Crisis's designs could be animated on a Disney budget and that would only make them look worse.

I have the opposite reaction: I find the character designs in, say, Dragon Crisis or Infinite Stratos to be boring but tolerable; whereas Madoka Magica's characters are just really off-putting, in a "unless you are the grizzled `ho-loving monologuing anti-protagonist in a Frank Miller comic, your jawline should not look like that!" sense. The sameface just makes it worse, like looking at a bunch of angular clones in different wigs.

As for the show itself, I'm rather ambivalent. Apart from the icky faces, I like the background art & design work: especially the buildings, just a really nifty alternate take on modern Japanese life (what was the last anime to bother making a cool-looking bathroom?); and the magical realm (or whatever it's called), it's really trippy and unique. I also enjoy the soundtrack - been a fan of Yuki Kajiura since "Noir" - and some of the fight scenes are cool. OTOH, so far it's mostly "just" a magical girls show, which falls flat for me; in particular, I don't like most of the cast and I'm really tired of the "whiny passive thoroughly average" female archetype (just as stale, worn out & annoying as her male counterpart in harem comedies). Although -

[WARNING EP 3 SPOILERS]

- it takes an abrupt turn into darker territory by killing off the one character I found tolerable near the end of episode 3. So on the one hand it suggests this series will be more brutal & evil than the norm for the genre and might have more going on than it initially seemed. OTOH, I've become squeamish about stories where bad things happen to children (yes, even the ones I can't stand); and it's already gotten rid of my favorite (well, least insufferable) character so far.

[/SPOILERS]

Sooo, yeah - not sure how long I'll stick with Madoka Magica, but at least I made it past the first couple of episodes.

[Lynxara]

Isn't SHAFT - and director Shinbo in particular - somewhat infamous for, ummm, not-so-great animation due to budget constraints or rushed production schedules or whatever?

I wouldn't know. I haven't heard that, but looking over both the director's credit list and SHAFT's credit list, they've been involved with precious little that I've given a damn about on any level. (It's interesting to know that Shinbo did work on Nanoha-- but only the first season, before the property really took off.)

To be honest, I felt the first episode telegraphed that this would be a "dark" take on magical girls. The idea that the girl's contract with the cute thing is actually terrible is not a new one, though I'm not sure it's been fully animated before. It's a familiar manga trope, though. Similar "dark" takes on kiddie genres consistently find an audience, Narutaru and Bokurano in particular, and Madoka Magica feels very much like an imitation of that style.

My problem with the show was similar to yours-- I just didn't like these characters and knew I wouldn't give a fuck when they started to die or sell their souls or whatever. The bad character animation really damaged my suspension of disbelief, especially since most shows will only look worse between the first episode and the grand finale.

[KaoFloppy]

[ Magica eps 3 SPOILERS...]

...her wish was probably that she will not or cannot die... (although I really doubt that, 'cos that's a story killer of a plot point)

[ /spoilers ]

[MatthewF]

Narutaru was super :D in the first couple of episodes and then super D: D: D: for the rest. Bokuranu was dark (and fantastic, whereas I didn't end up liking Narutaru much) but it had a very different feel to it.

[Lynxara]

The same creator was behind both manga versions. Dark kid's show deconstructions are, like, his thing. The anime IIRC tones down Bokurano, I don't know offhand if Narutaru ever got animated or not.

[MatthewF]

The same creator was behind both manga versions. Dark kid's show deconstructions are, like, his thing. The anime IIRC tones down Bokurano, I don't know offhand if Narutaru ever got animated or not.

It sure did and still has all the murder, impending rape, and crazy shit that the manga has.

Never read the Bokuranu manga, but the anime was pretty damn dark.

[Lynxara]

Interesting. The original manga ran in kind of a hipster-y sort of manga compilation for adults, so it's always hard to tell what sticks. (I haven't read the whole thing myself.)

[unbongwah]

I haven't heard that, but looking over both the director's credit list and SHAFT's credit list, they've been involved with precious little that I've given a damn about on any level.

I don't pay much attention to anime fan circles anymore, but I dimly recall complaints about the "shabby" production values of some of his recent series (e.g., Bakemonogatari). Looking at his resume, I realize I seem to have a fondness for his weird, trippy shows like SoulTaker and Bakemonogatari, even though narratively they tend to be something of a mess; SoulTaker's finale is a real fustercluck, IIRC.

[MatthewF]

I did enjoy SoulTaker as well, even I didn't understand any of it about 50% of the time. And finale? Yeah. What finale.

[MatthewF]

Wow, anyone who's still watching Bleach... Ep307, I did not see that coming. That was one hell of a long con.

Oh, and could someone please post when Naruto: Shippuuden is done with the filler arc? I'm not bothering to watch it until the main story comes back.

[TurinTur]

Interesting. The original manga ran in kind of a hipster-y sort of manga compilation for adults, so it's always hard to tell what sticks. (I haven't read the whole thing myself.)

Afternoon, the most famous and mainstream adult manga compilation magazine is "hipster-y"?? I think the correct term is just "seinen".
Hispter-y, that's... amusing.

[André Costa]

Wow, anyone who's still watching Bleach... Ep307, I did not see that coming. That was one hell of a long con.

I'm guessing you're talking about Gin, eh? There had been several moments between him and Aizen where hints were dropped about him.

(I hope you like filler because i'm guessing that the anime is going to be on it for at least 1 year and half now.)

[Lynxara]

Hispter-y, that's... amusing.

I wasn't using it as a derogatory term, as you seem to have assumed.

[DragonPup]

I don't normally post whenever Hulu gets a new series(and they have quite a lot), but they just added all of Moribito for free.

[TurinTur]

I wasn't using it as a derogatory term, as you seem to have assumed.

edit: LOL, i think you were speaking of Afternoon, but now i believe you were speaking of Ikki.
If it's Ikki, ok, it can be said it's "hipster-y", in a way.

[Mind Elemental]

I don't normally post whenever Hulu gets a new series(and they have quite a lot), but they just added all of Moribito for free.

If only I could access it outside of the US. :(

[Lynxara]

edit: LOL, i think you were speaking of Afternoon, but now i believe you were speaking of Ikki.

Yup. I dunno how Ikki translates, though, so for all I knew you were talking about the same mag.

[TurinTur]

No, it's just i thought you were speaking of the Narutaru's magazine (Afternoon) instead of Bokurano's magazine (Ikki). Both are seinen (adult) magazines, but Ikki is more focused in underground/alternative stuff while Afternoon is more mainstream and in fact the most known in seinen circles.

[Lynxara]

I always heard nobody in Japan used seinen as a genre classification?

[JoshV]

So I watched a few episodes of High School of the Dead on hulu. The fan service in that show escalates from 'a little over the top', to just downright stupid horrible in like six episodes. It also turns into a typical harem show pretty quick, disappointing, at first glance, it looked like it might've been a nice survival horror serial.

[JoshV]

Wow, anyone who's still watching Bleach... Ep307, I did not see that coming. That was one hell of a long con.

Oh, and could someone please post when Naruto: Shippuuden is done with the filler arc? I'm not bothering to watch it until the main story comes back.

I feel like, in a decade or two, someone will 'recut' these series, much like with Dragonball Z, and perhaps make them a bit more watchable without all that filler.

[yamo yamo]

i watched the Halo movie on netflix...nothing special.

[MatthewF]

If anyone cares, Naruto: Shippuuden has ended its filler arc, and returns to the main plot with a two-parter special.

[Morberis]

If anyone cares, Naruto: Shippuuden has ended its filler arc, and returns to the main plot with a two-parter special.

Thanks for the news!

If anyone is interested the new episodes seem to be 197-198. The filler arc spans episodes 170-196.

[MatthewF]

Uhm, yeah, Bleach 309... uh. Ichigo lost all of his powers because he used the Final Getsuga Tenshou. He's just a regular dude now, apparently. Where do you go from here? The main Aizen arc has ended, Ichigo reached his peak potential, and he's now powerless. He's not even, apparently, the lowest of the low on the Shinigami scale.

I say end it now. Ichigo goes back to being a normal high school kid, and reflects on the adventures of his past. However, his father learned and presumably used The Final, and is still a Shinigami. So I guess they're going to fuck with us for a while until Ichigo regains his Shinigami power. Fuck, why am I even pondering all of this? His final form was awesome, but they're going to now reboot him. Fuck it. The series is over as far as I'm concerned: Aizen is dead, the Hogyouku has been eliminated, Ichigo is robbed of his powers, life returns to normal. It's over.

Of course, it's not. Fuck.

[Anders Hallin]

This isn't about anime, but I was very happy to see that Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid is turning into a sports manga and not quite as much loli crap as I had suspected.

[The Bitter Cynic]

Watched Blood Trinity.

Wasn't bad.

[MatthewF]

Watched Blood Trinity.

Wasn't bad.

Wasn't great, either.

[André Costa]

Uhm, yeah, Bleach 309... uh. Ichigo lost all of his powers because he used the Final Getsuga Tenshou. He's just a regular dude now, apparently. Where do you go from here? The main Aizen arc has ended, Ichigo reached his peak potential, and he's now powerless. He's not even, apparently, the lowest of the low on the Shinigami scale.

I say end it now. Ichigo goes back to being a normal high school kid, and reflects on the adventures of his past. However, his father learned and presumably used The Final, and is still a Shinigami. So I guess they're going to fuck with us for a while until Ichigo regains his Shinigami power. Fuck, why am I even pondering all of this? His final form was awesome, but they're going to now reboot him. Fuck it. The series is over as far as I'm concerned: Aizen is dead, the Hogyouku has been eliminated, Ichigo is robbed of his powers, life returns to normal. It's over.

Of course, it's not. Fuck.

From what i understood, Isshin powers came back because of him being close to Ichigo and due to the massive reiatsu(spirit energy?) Ichigo was leaking until these final stages. That's why his sister can also see ghosts along with a few other of his friends.

Or at least that's what i understood from Tite Kubo insanely retarded plot.

Anyway, i'm guessing that the next 1 or 2 years of the anime will be filler.

Kubo said that for the manga there would be two more arcs. A small one (happening currently which is where he'll get his powers back, most likely) and then another one on the scale of the Soul Society arc.

There are still things that have been mentioned but still haven't showed up in the story like Squad 0 and the Spirit King domain which is what i'm guessing the last arc will be about.

EDIT: oh yeah, i don't know if you remember one episode about Hell(Most people thought it was filler). I think one or two espada were transported there and we were shown some other 'Bad Dude'? Yeah, well, after the Aizen arc ... they put that 'episode' on the manga. So it will most likely also feature in these arcs.

[Thrawn]

Wasn't Aizen imprisoned for 22,000 years or so?
But for the anime, stalled on one of the filler seasons. The one with the new captain that dual-wields some near broken zanpaktou.

Haven't caught up with the new arc (Manga), but I agree on Ichigo getting his powers back.